I agree with 1-4. Nothing is worse that receiving a generic request, especially from someone outside my industry or area.

Not so sure I agree with 5. I have had a person request a reccomendation. I was happy to do it, because I know their work reasonably well. Trolling for recommendations seems a bit desperate. I always try to write reccomendations for those I have a real life connection.

I don't endorse everyone I connect with on LinkedIn. I try to endorse those who I personally know and have a good business relationship with. To endorse on LinkedIn is to me as a "Like" on Facebook. I put more stock in recommendations.

The thank-you/welcome message is a nice touch. Endorsements are a popular topic -- some people love them and others hate them. Do you endorse everyone you connect to, or only certain people? How do you make the distinction?

Kristen, you hit it dead on with #3. You Have To Cultivate Relationships. So your picture is professional and current, you took it just after Christmas.. Great. But you have to build your "brand" and engage your network. Post regularly and stay relevant. If you've taken the time to grow your network, but you don't stay connected or active, then you you basically have an online rolodex.

Grow your network and Get to know your network. My Motto "Be Social".

One thing I make a rule to do is to send every person a "Thank you / Welcome" message and to endorse them at some point. Another thing is that I personalize it and I don't send it right away. I don't want them to think I'm a robot and I have an auto-responder connected to my profile. I want them to honestly know that they have juct connected to me. Not just a profile.

"Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you'll soon find many others around you. Learn to appreciate life, and you'll find that you'll have more of it." ~ Felix L. Griffin, LinkedIn

If using LI was not pay to play, these suggestions would work fine, but the thing is, members pay for the privilege of having their profiles moved up the queue to the front/center of employers. That is hardly fair or objective to the millions of jobseekers who are under/unemployed, not to mention those with the spare jack are not necessarily the best candidates. Nick Corcodilos explains LIs pay to play scheme here.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/08/ask-the-headhunter-is-linkedin.html

You're right -- it is finicky about when it lets you customize the message, and it should be streamlined. That said, I'm more likely to accept a request to connect with someone I don't know who takes time to personalize it over someone who sends the boilerplate message.

I've all but stopped responding to endorcement messages. They come in so often that they are little more than noisy spam in my mailbox. Agreed that recommendations do and should continue to carry real weight.

I navigate to the profile page to make sure I get an option to send a real message. Unless it's someone I work so closely with that it's a "d'oh, how are we not connected?" kind of request, then I let the automated one fly.

As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.